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Week 7: Doppelganger Danger
Week 7: Doppelganger Danger Freestone: 5/4 AS 932 When we left off... The rogue goblin had plenty of time to alert the other half of the castle while the Grick kept the party at bay. Though terrible to look upon, the Grick was actually not as terrible to fight as some initially feared. Its durable hide resisted the brunt of your damage, but Quintus' magic sword made quick work of its defenses. Through the door on the other side of the castle, Selgaard learned the hard way what an Owlbear is. Quintus taunted the beast, assuring it that it's mother had been a Bear-Owl, and it too, fell before the might of the brave adventuring party. In the final rooms, a pair of Hobgoblins and the Bugbear chieftain, King Grol, made a last stand. The Bugbear really, really refused to die, thwarting a number of Ulfar's attempts to shoot it with arrows, and dodging the brunt of Dargrim's spell-fire. However, eventually your overwhelming numbers won out, and the Bugbear stopped twitching. With the immediate killing done, it was time to toss the chamber. The search revealed a piece of burnt parchment in a brazier, and a few grubby hoards of goblin coin littering the chamber. In an adjoining closet, you found two dwarves -- both wearing rags, both bound in rope, and both completely identical. After both claimed to be Gundren Rockseeker, Ulfar stabbed one. This raised a lot of objections from Quintus, and eventually led to an elaborate game of questions and riddles to puzzle out which one was genuine. After a few minutes, you realized that one had to be a doppelganger (and also, logically, the as yet unaccounted for dark elf). Through trial and error, the cleverest among you hypothesized that doppelgangers had inherent mind-reading abilities. Unfortunately, your deductions were interrupted by a returning band of Hobgoblins. Doubly unfortunately, Clyde discovered the war band by taking a whole lot of blades in the spleen. With Clyde unconscious, Selgaard and Quintus took the lead in the fight. Ulfar got Clyde back up on his feet, while Dargrim kept careful watch of the two Gundrens. Finally, after a few close scrapes, the Hobgoblins were slain. While Dargrim conducted his augury ritual to determine a course of action through Mystra, Sir Quintus and Clyde double checked the rest of the castle for trouble. They remembered, at last, that Quintus had left two goblins tied up in sleeping bags on the other side of the castle. The goblins pleaded for their lives and won their freedom, declaring Sir Quintus King Bag-Ins. After utilizing the augury spell and asking a few more questions, Ulfar killed the Gundren most likely to be a doppelganger. A few tense minutes later, as the figure on the floor bled out, it did finally revert to its blank, black form. The real Gundren was finally vindicated, and anxious to be on his way. You all collaborated in a final search of the castle, some more successful than others, and loaded Pretzel with a few, select treasures. The group decided to push past their fatigue and crossed the river back into the free lands before making camp for the night. Around Town Apparently there's brandy.